THE COSMETIC CHURCH

Chapter 4: Mish Mash Ministries (part
3)

By Scott RossThe 700 Club

Strategy: Use the right marketing techniques, define the target audience,
and give the people what they want. Add some good lighting effects, a
hot band and singers. Pump it up with hype, and performance rather than
worship. Puff it up with "evangelastic" hyperbole that overstates
the number of conversions, size of crowds, and so called miracles. Good
public relations are important here. Emphasize comfort not the cross.
And remember, talking about blood makes people nervous and alienates your
audience. Keep it short and get them in and out before lunch.

Plumb Line of Truth

"Oh God, that our lives shall ever cease to be a matter of religious
entertainment." John G. Lake, writer/preacher (1870-1935)

"Father Mapple enjoyed such a wide reputation for sincerity and sanctity,
that I would not suspect him of courting notoriety by any mere tricks
of the stage." Herman Melville, "Moby Dick."

"God didn't send me out to collect a following for myself, but to
preach the Message of what He has done, collecting a following for Him.
And He didn't send me to do it with a lot of fancy rhetoric of my own,
lest the powerful action at the center-Christ on the Cross-be trivialized
into mere words." (Paul the Apostle - 1 Corinthians 1.17)

"Be especially careful when you are trying to be good so that you
don't make a performance out of it. It might be good theater, but the
God who made you won't be applauding.

When you do something for someone else, don't call attention to yourself.
You've seen them in action, I'm sure-'playactors' I call them-treating
prayer meeting and street corner alike as a stage, acting compassionate
as long as someone is watching, playing to the crowds. They get applause,
true, but that's all they get." (Jesus Christ in regard to conduct
in His Kingdom -.Matthew 6.1-4 The Message)

Prophets for Profit/Profits for Prophets

Pet Theology and Mind Set

Rooted in the religion of the greed of the Canaanites, and Balaam, in
the Old Testament, and the Pharisees who loved money in the New Testament.
Later practiced by the church in the 15th Century in the form of indulgences.
This puts a price on the gospel that has already been paid for. Conferences,
concerts, tapes, books, counseling, exorbitant fees are required by these
retailers of Truth.

Question: "How do the poor pay?"

Plumb Line of Truth

"I needed a Creator; I was given a businessman." Jean-Paul
Sartre, French philosopher (1905-1980)

"You priests and prophets teach and preach but only for money. Then
you say, The Lord is on our side? No harm will come to us." (Micah
3.11 CEV)

"You have taken advantage of the poor, filling your barns with grain
extorted from helpless, poor, people." (Isaiah 3.14)

"These are prophets and priests who betray the souls of the people
for profit." (Zephaniah 3.4)

"I am not the kind of prophet who prophesies for pay." Amos
the Prophet.
(Amos 7.14 - Today's English Version)

"You received without paying, now give without being paid. Don't
take along any gold, silver, or copper coins." - Jesus upon the commissioning
of His disciples when He sent them out to minister to the people.) (Matthew
10. 8-9 Contemporary English Version)

"They have forsaken the right way and gone astray, following the
way of Balaam, the prophet who turned profiteer, a connoisseur of evil."
(2 Peter 2.15 The Message)

"Woe to them! They have rushed for profit into Balaam's error."
(Jude 11 NIV)

"What pay am I given for preaching the Gospel? It is the chance to
preach the Good News free of charge and not use the privileges that are
mine because I am a preacher." Paul the Apostle. (1 Corinthians 9.17-18)

"Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit."
(2 Corinthians 2.17 NIV)

Preacher as Pop Star

Pet Theology and Mind Set

A one man or woman traveling salvation show, parading, prancing, and
primping, with all the trappings & accruements of "pop"
celebrity. Big offerings, houses, cars, and buildings, emblazoned with
the personal name of the preacher. This individual exploits the people
by building his personal kingdom on the backs of the people. His success
at your expense.

This individual is a Lone Ranger not accountable to anyone; other than
God of course. The entire work rises and falls on the subjective, private,
revelations of this personage. His favorite phrases, "God told me,
God showed me, and God spoke to me." Of course that private revelation
was just for YOU!! Everything is for sale, prophecies, tapes, books, etc.
and "if you don't send your money in today, my ministry will be gone
tomorrow!"

Maybe it should be.

Plumb Line of Truth

"Often (our preaching) turns from being a Gospel into a display
of the "gospeller" and his cleverness. And the Gospel dies,
strangled by self-interested display." (E. Stanley Jones - Preacher/writer)

These preachers as pop stars are "inebriated with the exuberance
of (their) own verbosity." (Earl of Beaconsfield, House of Commons,
1878)

"Be wary of false preachers who smile a lot, dripping with practiced
sincerity. Chances are they out to rip you off some way or the other.
Don't be impressed with charisma; look for character. Who preachers are
is the main thing, not what they say. A genuine leader will never exploit
your emotions or your pocketbook." A warning from Jesus Christ-(Matthew
7.15-16 The Message)